On November 5, 1955, lightning struck the Hill Valley Clock Tower. In 1985, the Hill Valley Preservation Society successfully launched a campaign to restore this landmark to its former glory. Today is November 5, 2010, exactly fifty-five years since the momentous lightning strike, and to commemorate this historic event we are now revealing the newly discovered contents of an unearthed time capsule, buried by the students of Hill Valley High School in 1985. The contents of this time capsule will shock and amaze even the most seasoned of readers. A box containing a type of disc called a “blu-ray” (apparently whoever designed this box was extremely lazy and failed to check their spelling of the word “blue”) was discovered containing digitally restored footage, audio, and many new special features. The contents of this “blu-ray” disc has been disclosed to the public, and now you can learn more about the adventures of the illustrious Doctor Emmett Brown and his pupil, Marty McFly in the new Back to the Future Trilogy: 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Set!

Since everyone and their mom (pun intended) knows the story of the Back to the Future, here is a brief recap of the series just to help fill in the gaps:

Crazy doctor + cool kid + awesome car + time travel = Back to the Future. While helping his friend Doctor Emmett Brown with an experiment in time travel, Marty is accidentally thrown back in time to 1955! While in 1955, Marty unknowingly changes his own history, causing his mother and father never to fall in love. With some help from the 1955 version of Doc Brown, Marty must race against the clock to find a way home and fix his own history!

In Back to the Future Part II, Marty and Doc continue their adventures through time by traveling to the future to the distant year 2015 to save Marty’s future son! Marty soon finds the future full of temptations and decides to purchase a Almanac full of future sports scores. Doc refuses to alter the future any further and discards the book, only to have it (and the time machine) discovered by Future Biff. Doc and Marty return to the present (1985) only to find that things have been drastically altered. Now the guys must find a way to restore the timeline or else they will be stuck in a bleak, altered history where Biff rules Hill Valley with an iron grip.

Following the revelations at the end of Back to the Future Part II, Marty must travel back in time to the old west to save Doc Brown from impending doom in Back to the Future Part III, the final installment of the Back to the Future series. Marty finds Doc alive and well in 1885, working as a blacksmith and inventor. He convinces Doc to help him return to the future to avoid certain death at the hands of Mad Dog Tannen. Things don’t go exactly as planned and once again Marty and Doc are stranded in time. Will they be able to find a way to escape the wild wild west preventing Doc’s untimely demise (Hint: It involves a train… that can fly… and time travel… and has the power to create an animated spinoff series)?

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Special features:
This new 25th Anniversary Edition of BTTF is packed with special features that will keep you entertained for hours. Highlights include: Story boards of the alternate Nuclear Test Site Ending, Feature Commentaries with Bob Gale and Neil Canton, look at a Hoverboard Test, 16 Deleted Scenes, and the “Tales from The Future” Documentary series. Check out the complete list of features below:

(* Denotes new footage debuting on the 25th Anniversary Trilogy)

• 1080p Video
• 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• U-Control (BD-exclusive):
  • Setups & Payoffs: As you watch each of the three films, each “set up” showcases items in the scene that prepare you for a future plot point. When you get to that moment in the film, the “payoff” is shown to complete the correlation.
  • Storyboard Comparison: Compare key scenes in the movie with the original storyboards.
  • Trivia Track: Get inside trivia and facts while you watch the movies
• Q&A commentaries with director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale
• Feature commentaries with producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton
• Back to the Future Night: hosted by Leslie Nielson, this original 30-minute special aired on NBC prior to the first television screening of the Back to the Future (new, BD-exclusive)
• Tales from the Future: new six-part retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Director Robert Zemeckis, Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton, plus Executive Producer Steven Spielberg*
  • In the Beginning…: Delve into the genesis of the project, casting, re-casting, the DeLorean, sets and overall pre-production.
  • Time to Go: Production stories through the release of the first film.
  • Keeping Time: The score and the songs of the Back to the Future Trilogy.
  • Time Flies: Learn more about how the sequel came about, the futuristic look, the special and visual effects, recreating 1955 and more.
  • Third Time’s the Charm: Learn about building a western town, Doc Brown’s love story, the casting of Mary Steenburgen, the train sequence and completing the Trilogy.
  • The Test of Time: Back to the Future becomes a phenomenon! President Reagan quotes the film, the Back to the Future ride opens at Universal Studios theme park and fans rebuild the iconic DeLorean. The film’s cast and crew take a look back and discuss why these beloved movies live on.
• The Physics of Back to the Future: A discussion with celebrity best-selling author and physicist Dr. Michio Kaku about the overall appreciation of the science in the Back to the Future Trilogy*
• Nuclear test site ending storyboard sequence: Storyboard sequence of the original proposed ending of the film.*
• Sixteen deleted scenes
• Michael J. Fox Q&A
• Archival featurettes:
  • Making the Trilogy: Chapters One, Two & Three: Original 2002 DVD documentary that takes a look back in time.
  • The Making of Back to the Future Part I, II & III: Provides a vintage and historic first look at the making of all three films.
  • The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy: a televised special hosted by Kirk Cameron addressing fans unanswered Back to the Future questions.
• Behind-the-scenes:
  • Outtakes
  • Original makeup tests
  • Production design
  • Storyboarding
  • Designing the DeLorean
  • Designing time travel
  • Hoverboard test
  • Designing Hill Valley
  • Designing the campaign
• Back to the Future: The Ride
• Music Videos:
  • Huey Lewis and the News “Power of Love”
  • ZZ Top “DoubleBack”
• Photo galleries, including production art, additional storyboards, photographs, marketing materials and character portraits
• Theatrical trailers
• BD-Live
• My Scenes
• pocket BLU: USHE’s pocket BLU app uses iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Windows and Macintosh computers and more to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray player and offers advanced features such as:
  • Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live functions with ease.
  • Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in their favorite episode.
  • Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy exclusive content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
  • Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
  • Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-ray player with your device’s easy and intuitive keyboard

Overall:
The Back to the Future Trilogy is truly a timeless masterpiece. You can really watch these movies countless times without them ever getting old. While the original movie remains the most quoteable of the series, these movies were a benchmark for children of the 80’s. The story arcs of both Marty and Doc and how they grow through each movie follow a predictable (yet enjoyable) narrative that is worth following through to the end, resulting in a satisfying and fufilling conclusion to the series that many other trilogies seem to miss out on (Here’s looking at you Mr. Lucas…. two times over…). It’s so easy to get attached to Marty, Jennifer, Doc, and even Biff because they are all so relatable and by the time all three movies are said and done with, become such timeless characters that you’ll want to watch it again, sharing it with anyone and everyone you know.

The team involved in putting this set together really went above and beyond to make sure that we would be getting the best release possible. The remastered sound and restored video make the trilogy feel better than ever. The colors are bright and vivid. The audio is crisp and clean. When you watch this release in 1080p, you too will be yelling “Great Scott”!

If you know someone that has never seen these movies then you owe it to them to go out and buy this set right now spending a day along with a huge bag of popcorn showing them what could argubly be called the greatest Sci-Fi trilogy ever made.

ComicsOnline gives the Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy on Blu-ray 5 out of 5 times I will be extremely angry if I don’t have a hoverboard of my own in 5 years.

Get your copy of the Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy on Blu-ray at Amazon.

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